#WE HAVE STITCH ART Y'ALL

[shootingstarpilot]

*ahem*

NEVER IN MY LIFE SHALL I RECOVER HOLY SHIT-

listen maybe in one world someone will complain about the injustice of you being able to both draw and write so damn well but if it gets me THIS then it SURE AS HELL WON’T BE ME JHKGFHCNBGVBMJ

stitch. stitch stitch stitch my darling my baby my beloved!! i am a mess!! this is exactly how i pictured him! the curls! the tentative joy! the curls! the smile! the curls!

DID I MENTION THE C U R L S-

(also ngl the fact that the duckling is looking so goddamn content just- why are you ALSO SO GOOD AT DRAWING DUCKLINGS-)

oh, needle needle needle, i love him your honor. what you’ve done with his HAIR, i ADORE IT- the little designs shaved into the sides!! because he sure as hell ain’t about to be boring!! his smile!! his joy at seeing his little brother so happy!! his lil baby bug who he loves so so so much!! contribution to world peace indeed!! you’re doing so good bb keep doing what you’re doing!! canon appearances CONFIRMED on EVERY ANGLE goddamnit i’m SOBBING-

ALSO. I JUST NOTICED THIS. THE YELLOW BLOSSOMS IN THE BACKGROUND. THE ASMONTHUS TREES. THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL. I AM A PUDDLE ON THE FLOOR. MOP ME UP AND WRING ME OUT, BOYS, WE’RE DONE-

now. it would be a crime to go without mentioning obi-wan and cody. obi-wan’s quiet delight. the braid. and the LOOK ON CODY’S FACE-

LISTEN. HIS EXPRESSION KILLS ME EVERY TIME. JUST KNOCKS ME FLAT. JUST SCROLLED UP TO LOOK AT IT AGAIN AND BOOM, BACK ON THE FLOOR WE GO. MOTHERFUCKER. I ADORE IT. THE SOFTNESS. THE TENDERNESS. THE L O V E-

I’M SO IN LOVE WITH THEM BEING IN LOVE SEND HELP

kljhgfhdfghj the COLORS and the SHADING in his HAIR and his FACE and his TURTLENECK-

long and the short of it, i am a sobbing mess, i shall be staring at this forever and ever and ever and no one can stop me. fuck, i love this so much. everything i possibly could’ve hoped for and more. thank you SO MUCH for this, your talent is absurd and i adore it and you. as a wee scrap of a thank you for this magnificent art, have a little snippet of what’s to come:

“I don’t think you’re much of a Jedi at all. The Jedi don’t leave anyone behind. You did. And I don’t want Ben going back to a long-neck.”

The way he’s looking at him-

Qui-Gon watches, something ringing in his ears, as Stitch glances down and pries open the back of the transponder with practiced hands.

“And besides,” he says, not-quite-absently–

“I thought you were okay with child soldiers?”

I AM BLOWING KISSES IN YOUR GENERAL DIRECTION MWAH

fanart for @shootingstarpilot from like lightning changing hands, the most recent fic in his shoulder the sky series. i cannot for the life of me remember when I last did fanart (fe 3 houses????) but listen, I love little medic stitch (shootingstarpilot's oc) so so much. he's NINE you guys. for clone troopers that's like SIXTEEN. he goes through so much so when he got a chance to sit in a garden with a duckling on his head and be happy i was overcome with the need to draw it. codywan in one bubble with cody definitely not paying attention to the ducks. needle (another 212th medic + oc of shootingstarpilot) in the other bubble pleased with his contribution (the duckling) to world peace. if you've read this fic please come cry about the 212th medics in general with me, and this tiny dinosaur-loving kindhearted neurodivergent kiddo in particular. as needle calls him: baby bug. baby.

[aspirationatwork]

Listen. Sit down around the fireplace with me for a moment.

Artists. Gif makers. People who like memes. Anyone who posts images.

Y'all have got to start writing your own image descriptions. You have to. You really really have to start doing it yourself.

Us, the blogs dedicated to accessibility, cannot keep doing it for you. Well, we can, but we shouldn't have to. We shouldn't have to dedicate our time and energy to make posts that are not ours accessible and you shouldn't expect strangers to do you favors, especially when the work is so thankless. For every post I describe, a hundred more are posted without one.

The original post should be accessible. Adding an image description through a reblog is a metaphorical bandaid when what's needed are metaphorical stitches. Someone's ability to access the internet should not be dependent on the goodwill of others and goodwill that can just be ignored at that. People can simply choose to not reblog an accessible version of a post, whether intentionally or out of ignorance.

We don't expect volunteers to construct temporary ramps for buildings, we expect the building to have its own ramp, built to code.

The next time you see or post art, or a meme, or a screenshot from Twitter, ask yourself- does someone with a visual impairment not deserve to know what this image is about? Why should you get to laugh at the joke and not them?

Just.....just do it. Just write image descriptions. There's loads of resources out there to help you and even more references from the people who care.

Just. Do it.

Start doing then.

Start telling other people to do them.

Start reblogging them.

Accessibility is a necessity and it is not optional.

[scourgeofmyownbrain]

My siblings in Primus, holy fucking shit. I made an Optimus Height Chart. This took me.. SO LONG TO DO. Were y'all aware of how many Optimus designs there are?? Because I don't have all of them on this chart, and I still have TWENTY NINE (29, a 2 and a 9) out of the THIRTY SIX (36, a 3 and a 6) that exist. I didn't include the SEVEN (7) because either they were just a temporary upgraded form, or I already had multiple designs from that universe that were the same height and having all of them is redundant and repetitive.

40 fucking years and nearly as many distinct designs, I deserve a medal, honestly. Optimus has been in every single piece of media the Transformers franchise has ever made. Working on this in tandem with the Megatron one was a wild choice of mine, but I did it.

I included Optimus Primal on this chart. Both are named Optimus, I should not have to explain myself. Big Monkey and Big Truck are the same. No, your honour, I do not plead insanity; why do you ask?

Quick Disclaimer, if any of the images look weird, it's because I had to stitch a few separate images together to create a full body shot of the character.

Links to my Bumblebee Chart and my Megatron Chart. !!NEW!! -> Shockwave, Soundwave, Ratchet, and Ironhide. For future reference, all these charts will be filed under my "Transformers Height Charts" tag and my "aka the adventures of a..." tag. Hopefully, my bumblebee post is acting up and idk if the same issue will happen here.

Master Post

Explanations below the cut because I have fucking WORDS to say. This is gonna be a long one... 29 separate designs...

G1 Beast Wars V1 - ~9 Feet (Primal. Straight from TFWiki, converted to feet and rounded, the tiniest baby man gorilla)

G1 Beast Machines - ~8 Feet (Primal. The wiki failed me, but I found a old forum discussion where they made a chart comparing all the BW/M characters. Glorious stuff, I commend their effort.)

G1 Beast Wars V2 - ~10 Feet (Primal. TFWiki with the clutch, I will not always be this lucky.)

Earth Spark - ~15 Feet (Prime. No official numbers have been given, but I have already figured out how tall Bee is, and I was able to compare the two and get a good estimate. This is the shortest non-animal universe to date holy shit. Look at this, I'm showing my work

I am having a conniption they are so short)

RID 2001 - ~16 Feet (Prime. TFWiki once more, we love one source for everything)

Unicron Trilogy V2&3/ENG&CYB - ~16 Feet (Prime. For the uneducated, the Unicron Trilogy has given each of its 3 seasons separate names and 3 separate art styles. These are the designs used in Energon (S2) and Cybertron (S3). The Wiki had Cybertron's numbers but not Energon's, so for my own sanity, I decided the two were the same height. I could have done something in between Cybertron's and Armada's (S1) numbers, but there was a lot of float between the two)

G1 Beast Wars V3 - ~16 Feet (Primal/Optimal Optimus, this is the result of a fusion between Primal and Prime. The TFWiki says this design is like 40 feet tall, but if that is true, Rattrap, a character stated to be 1.8m or ~6f tall across several sources across several different languages, is actually not that tall. So I call bullshit, this guy is 2.6 Rattraps tall, making him around 16f or 4.9m tall. Checkmate, I win)

Prime Wars V1 - ~17 Feet (Primal. Slight spoilers for further into this chart but I decided that the Prime Wars Trilogy and the Netflix Cybertron Trilogy Optimuses were the same height as the Gen 1 design, because they're nearly identical. So comparing Primal to Prime, Primal comes up to about Prime's tits, bada bing bada boom)

Netflix Cybertron Trilogy - ~17 Feet (Primal. Identical explanation to above, don't want to repeat myself)

One V1 - ~17 Feet 10 inches (Prime. Okay, the Wiki says 32.534 feet, and I call Bullshit. A: These numbers are sourced from the Walmart Promotional AR Experience that came out before the movie. B: There are three decimal points, and that number does not convert into a whole number in meters (which is originally what I thought was weird about it). C: The director has said that this movie is both canon to the LA movies and its own separate canon. I already stated all of this in my Bumblebee chart post, and I will be dying on this hill. This is as short as we see OP in the movie, him at his tallest should match his KCV height, he's never taller than Megsy, so knock a couple feet off the biggest number and voila, my brain hurts)

One V2 - ~18 Feet 10 Inches (Prime. Same explanation as above, but taller than he was without his cog, because he got bigger)

Gen 1 - ~19 Feet (Prime. TFWiki has saved me the effort of figuring it out myself)

Prime Wars - ~19 Feet (Prime. As I said before, since this design is identical to Gen 1, it is the same height)

Netflix Cybertron Trilogy - ~19 Feet (Prime. I've said it twice now, identical, therefore same height)

Knight/Capel-Verse - ~19 Feet 4 inches (Primal. No Robot height given, I have his monkey form height from TFWiki, but comparing him to Optimus he's only a few inches shorter)

Prime Wars V2 - ~ 20 Feet (Primal. Compared to Prime, Prime comes up to about Primal's nose area, and we all know how tall I think this Prime is)

Animated - 20 Feet 6 Inches (Prime. This number actually comes from @phoenix-inanis and the glorious calculations they have done on the TFA Characters. Go check it out, because animated has literally no actual numbers -> https://phoenix-inanis.notion.site/TFA-Height-Chart-f6ad2960ca8c4c5b859ee4958723aaa4?pvs=4)

Knight/Capel-Verse - 20 feet 10 Inches (Prime. TFWiki has graced me with a number)

One V3 - ~20 Feet 10 Inches (Prime. If it's canon to KCV, then it's canon here. I've already told you my reasons)

Cyberverse - 21 Feet (Prime. Oh, shitty screenshot from a random Russian YouTube video; you treat me so well. I would adore a better scan of this if anyone has one)

Unicron Trilogy V1/ARM - 22 Feet 11 Inches (Prime. Technically, this number is for the Armada video game, which isn't exactly canon to the show. But I don't have any other numbers and my brain is tired, so CANON IT IS)

Aligned Cont. RID15 V1 - 25 Feet (Prime. I'm really proud of this one: I can already hear some of your questions. "But I thought his second form was as tall as his TFP V2 form, and this one was as tall as TFP V1," "but his V1 forms and V2 forms look like each other," You thought Wrong!! And I can Prove it!! Let's refresh ourselves on the height difference between TFP V1 Prime and Bee.

As we can see, Bee comes up to the top of Optimus's hips. Lovely. Now, let's look at RID15's height difference when Optimus first returns. Keep in mind that RID15 Bee and TFP Bee are the same height.

Look, Bee comes up to Optimus's chest in this form, not his hips. He comes up to a similar point on Bulkhead in the previous picture. Let's look at Prime's second form.

This is from the intro; yes, Bee is crouched, but look, if he stood straight he only comes up to about Prime's hips, JUST LIKE IN TFP!!! With this evidence, we can conclude that Prime's first RID15 form is similar in height to Bulkhead! I was so fucking excited to show y'all this, I was so proud of myself, I still am)

Bayverse V1 - 28 Feet (Prime. From the first 4 movies. Straight from TFWiki, because Mr. Michael Bay loves me)

Bayverse V2 - 29 Feet (Prime. Only in The Last Knight. Mr. Bay has lovingly kissed my forehead because he always gives me numbers for his movies)

Aligned Cont. WF/FOC/TFP V1/RID15 V2 - 30 Feet (Prime. TFWiki/Fandom/Me respectively. I love you, Video Game Info Screens. I am still pretty syced about figuring RID15 out, oh I feel so good. Almost makes me forget about how FREAKISHLY HUGE this universe is. And how the games concretely prove this fact)

Aligned Cont. TFP V2 - 35 Feet (Prime. Yes this number comes from Fandom, but this entire universe is monstrously huge for no reason, I believe it. Go look at my Bee chart for more in-depth and insane rant about how huge this universe is compared to other universes, it's at the end of the post)

Not Pictured: Aligned Cont. Rescue Bots and Rescue Bots Academy Optimus Prime - 30 Feet. (Yes, Optimus in the Aligned Continuity has 7 distinct designs across the whole thing. I am in physical pain. SEVEN?? ONE GUY?? SEVEN??), Bayverse Optimus Prime Power Up - 40 Feet. (It's an upgrade form that does not stick around, why should I include it), RID 2001 Super Mode - ~21 feet (Optimus can turn it on and off at will, it's just an upgrade mode), Unicron Trilogy Energon & Cybertron Optimus Prime Super Mode - ~20 Feet (Once more, upgrade mode, it's like stilts, you don't count something you don't always have on.)

29 pngs, holy shit I've done it. This took so long. If anyone has any suggestions for which transformer I should aggressively analyze next please tell me I don't know which ones to do next.

Here are the different layers separated, just so you can see all the many Optimuses (Optimusi?) clearly. I know my og chart is crowded, there's 29 pngs on there you don't think I noticed?

[makrustic]

Hey y'all, we gonna have new art in like, 2-3 days for the commission being worked on, as well as a pretty 'long' piece dropping soon I also wanna say, uh, thanks so fucking much? for the support on the cross stitch patterns? That stuff is free, mind you, but alot of you have been coming in dropping coffee money with the patterns on the Ko-Fi, which is so sweet, so thank you everyone <3

[the-amazing-boop]

My track by track first impressions for Unreal Unearth (with some contextualized thoughts of the singles)

De Selby Part 1 - straight into the lullabies playlist. Just perfect.

De Selby Part 2 - perfect fade in from Part 1. I couldn't have dreamt up a better, more subtle transition. Still my current creature comfort.

First Time - oh, ffs, it's bluesy and sad. Lethal combination. This might be another one on repeat later. Ow. Ouch, ow. THE FINAL TIME YOU CALLED ME "BABY". Wtf. I see why some of y'all were cussing him out on here.

Francesca - my beloved. Brutal to have this follow First Time, though. Mentally two-stepping through the tears. The bellowing at the outro still has the power to ascend me despite my replaying.

I,Carrion - another certified heartbreaker for the lullabies playlist. She's Greek, she's cosmic, she's pure love.

Eat Your Young - I am once again solidified in my conviction to refuse having children in this fucked up world. Y'all be safe.

Damage Gets Done (feat. Brandi Carlile) - Okay guitar lick! Oh the voices belting together in harmony is hitting me. I'm getting really 2010s feelings I haven't felt in forever. I feel the sudden urge to forgive myself. He's back at it again with the choral work, CAN I LIVE??

Who We Are - and just like that, I'm back on my emo shit. He really went for emotional whiplash in terms of song ordering, huh? Not me literally listening to this while engulfed in a dark room as well. Another one I'll have to repeat, I fear.

Son of Nyx - oh fuck. Oh no. Not the piano dragging along. And no words. THE CUTOFF. THE STRINGS. THE VOCALIZATIONS. It's definitely a warning. Shit's about to start hurting for real. It's so haunting and gorgeous.

All Things End - Hello, old friend, my first favorite. I'm terrified of what follows you. It was bad enough watching the man "die" on the table (my hands are in the air to receive the gospel).

To Someone From A Warm Climate (Uiscefhuarithe) - fucking hell. Just devastating. Idk how much more I can take.

Butchered Tongue - this hits like crazy if you have any connection to a diaspora that was nearly erased or just have ancestry DEEPLY rooted oppression and the like. Ffs, I'm gonna need stitches for a cut that deep.

Anything But - and then this happy shit. Back at it again with the whiplash, the bastard. I love it though! This is going on the light and bright playlist. I'm a sucker for sad lyrics dressed in bright colors. And the vocals?? Come on, now.

Abstract (Psychopomp) - I was right. Everything following Son of Nyx just hurts differently. Dare I say worse than the first half of the album. I really shouldn't get into how I relate OFTEN to the poor roadkill creatures in my area.

Unknown/Nth - a nice and plentiful helping of stake through the heart, as usual. The briiidge. I drown in it every time.

First Light - I'm gonna say it's an instant classic. The imagery. The love on love on love. The catharsis. The drumsss. Oh! The acoustic fade out.

Overall, he didn't bother not once to lift his heel on this album. He's outdone himself. No skips. I am foaming at the mouth, waiting for my vinyl to come in. All get 10s across the board from me. 16 works of art. I really wish I could lock myself in a room for three days to really digest this album.

[photogirl894]

"Sun and Rain Part 2: Age of the Empire"

Chapter 39

"Hard Hits"

A "Bad Batch" fanfic!

Pairing: Hunter x fem OC, Echo (more best friend pairing)

A/N: Well y'all...you knew this was coming 😅

Today is my last day of summer break before going back to work and what a better way to show my despair at going back to work by posting a chapter full of angst?? 😜 If you like angst, then you're gonna have a heyday with this one! I've had one scene in this chapter written for a looooong time now, so it's great to finally put it out there!

Also, there's a fun Kimber/Hunter moment I threw in based off of this art I got commissioned a while ago 🥰 See if you can spot it!

Hope y'all still enjoy! (Just don't hate me at the end of this one 😅)

Taglist: @the-sad-batch , @nimata-beroya , @intrepidmare , @legolkenxbi , @tech-aficionado ,

@ladykatakuri , @d1n0-dan , @sammi9498 , @darthzero22 , @scarlettrose9901 ,

@thebadbatchscyare , @chxpsi , @ilikemymendarkandfictional , @4pplecider , @locitapurplepink ,

@l-lend , @nekotaetae , @eternalwaffle , @merkitty49 , @avathebestx ,

@idoubleswearimawriter , @techs-stitches , @fantasyproductions , @totallyunidentified , @dreamsandrosies ,

@theknightofivanhoe

《 Chapter 38

》 Chapter 40

All parts (Part 2) (Part 1)

Explanation: Kimber and Hunter are now Crosshair's prisoners and things come to a head between the Bad Batch and Crosshair back on the planet where it all began....

Huddled together, Kimber and Hunter found themselves on the floor of an Imperial shuttle, still in cuffs and now sailing through hyperspace on their way to an undisclosed location. Two members of Crosshair's team were in the back area guarding them and standing by the door that led further into the ship. 

A loud alarm rang through the ship, indicating the door was about to open. Hunter's head lifted and his eyebrows furrowed together, which gave Kimber the indication of exactly who was coming. The door slid open and in strolled Crosshair, glaring down at the two of them. Kimber took notice that he had Hunter's knife attached to his belt.

“Where are we going?” Hunter asked him. 

Crosshair got down in front of him and pulled out Hunter's comm device from one of his pouches. “You'll find out soon enough,” he stated as he turned the device on, “and so will your squad.”

“Wow…so quick to forget they were your squad once, too. Your family, no less,” Kimber snapped, which he ignored as he stood back up. 

“Using my comm won't work. They'll know it's a trap,” Hunter debated. 

Crosshair looked back at him and simply stated, “They'll still come for you.”

“Oh, stop being coy, Crosshair,” said Kimber, irritated. “Where are you taking us?”

He side-eyed her for a moment before answering, “Back to where this all started.” Then with that, he turned on his heel and walked back through the door, letting it close behind him.

Kimber and Hunter exchanged anxious glances, wondering what Crosshair could possibly mean. Kimber’s gaze dropped in thought to her bound hands. Where could he be taking them? What did he mean by “where it all started”? Did he mean the Empire? That would probably mean Coruscant, but that didn’t seem as significant. Or perhaps he meant Order 66, which preceded even the Empire. That happened for them on Kaller, but even that didn’t seem to strike her as important enough to return to. No…there had to be another planet. One that meant something to all of them.

Then it hit her. He wasn’t talking about where things with the galaxy started. He was talking about where things with their squad started...where everything went wrong for them. 

That meant only one place.

“I know where we’re going,” Kimber stated aloud, turning to Hunter. 

“Quiet!” the female guard sternly scolded her. 

Now even more frustrated, Kimber replied with a roll of her eyes, “We're just talking. Calm down.”

“Hey! We said quiet!” the other guard; a male one stated gruffly.

“Or what? You going to kill me?” she challenged, getting up to her feet. “I don’t think your Commander will be happy with that since we’re his prisoners.”

“Kimber, don’t,” Hunter warned her.

The male guard stepped forward and ordered Kimber, “Sit down.”

Feeling emboldened by her anger, she looked the trooper down and defiantly responded, “No.”

The trooper was quick to react as the butt of his blaster rifle forcefully met her stomach. The wind was knocked out of her and, with a choked gasp, she dropped to a knee and clutched her stomach. Hunter immediately moved to stand up, but the other guard approached and held her weapon at his head to keep him from moving.

“That’s for disobeying orders!” the soldier who hit Kimber cried out. 

She coughed and gasped for breath before letting out a light snicker. “You should know this about me: I don’t like following orders...especially when they come from Imperial scum like you.”

She didn’t know what possessed her to be this audacious to the Imperial soldiers, but her anger and animosity of the situation was overpowering all sense of logic and common sense. The consequence of her statement was then being struck again by the Imperial’s blaster rifle, this time across the face. She let out a loud, pained cry and Hunter called her name in worry. Her left cheekbone throbbed from the impact and she clenched her teeth, holding herself together. This was nothing compared to other punishments she’d suffered in the past, but that didn’t exactly make the pain any less impactful still. 

The alarm rang again and the doors opened as Crosshair stepped inside, having heard the commotion from the other side. “Stand down,” he ordered the two guards.

Stepping back and standing again at attention, the male guard informed him, “She defied our orders, sir.”

Crosshair glanced at Kimber indignantly and commented, “She’s good at that.” 

Then he walked up to her and took her arm, pulling her up to her feet and towards the door. Kimber tried to resist and she heard Hunter cry out for her, but Crosshair removed her from the room with ease and the doors closed behind them. Once they were alone, he lightly pushed her into one of the safety seats in front of him on the side of the small hallway. She cast a displeased look up at him and then turned away. She didn’t even want to look at Crosshair right now. All she could feel was resentment towards him as he stood there, looking down on her.

Then he spoke, his voice oddly calm, “He hit you hard.” Then she felt his hand carefully touching her hurt cheek.

With an annoyed grunt, she swapped his hand away with her bound hands. “What of it?” she asked back.

Stepping back, he said, “I gave orders that you both were to be unharmed. I should reprimand him for using such force on you.”

She scoffed at the notion of him punishing his subordinate on her behalf. “Save your false pity. I don't want it,” she said, turning even more away.

“It isn’t false. You think I want to see you this way?” he asked.

“I don't know, Crosshair. What do you want?” she questioned him, now looking back at him. “Because frankly, I can't figure that out. You tried to kill us multiple times, then we find out it's most likely not of your own volition and then you were practically begging me not to fight last time I saw you. You seemed almost like yourself, but you still hold allegiance to the Empire. Even now, instead of outright killing me or Hunter, you've captured us and you're taking us back to Kamino.”

His eyes widened slightly.

Cocking her head to the side, she added confidently, “Yeah, I figured it out.”

An impressed grunt sounded from his throat. Then he replied, “You always were sharp.”

Kimber rolled her eyes, unamused, and turned her gaze away. “Oh, don't act familiar with me now. Unless you have anything to say to me that's actually worth my time, I want to go back with Hunter.”

“Kimber, why must you keep fighting me?” he demanded. 

That question ignited a spark of disbelief within her and her head snapped back in his direction, fire in her eyes. “Why must I--? If you're seriously asking me that question, then you're way more far gone than I thought,” she spat at him. Then she shook her head and sighed with defeat. “I really don't know who you are anymore.”

Crosshair simply stared back at her, his eyes instinctively going to the red mark on her cheek that was already beginning to bruise. Even now, seeing her hurt in any way made his blood run hot. He couldn’t suppress that even if he tried. He just wanted her to see reason with the Empire; to see the bigger picture like he did, but she was determined to keep opposing him no matter what. She didn’t understand what he was trying to do...but she would. He would see to that soon. 

He walked over to the doors, turned back to Kimber and told her, “I would advise you stay quiet. Make it easy on yourself.” Then he activated the doors and stepped aside, allowing her back into the room.

Kimber just gave him one more displeased glance and walked back inside without saying a word to him. Hunter, who was still seated on the floor, looked up at her immediately with concern and seemingly relaxed slightly as he realized she was okay. She took her place back beside him on the ground, giving him a nod of reassurance. There was definitely a look in his eye that told her he wanted to say something admonishing towards her for how she behaved earlier, but was choosing to stay quiet lest they get in trouble again. 

All they had to do now was wait in uncomfortable silence until they reached their destination.

They had no idea how long it had been when they felt the ship jolt out of hyperspace. Hunter reached over with his joined hands and took Kimber’s protectively in his own as they figured out they would soon be landing. A minute later, they heard the loud tapping of rainfall on the roof of the ship and Kimber’s shoulders sank. The rainfall confirmed they were exactly where she predicted they’d end up.

She turned to Hunter and mouthed silently, “Kamino.” To which, he nodded in understanding.

Soon, they were both told to get up by the guards and gruffly pulled to their feet. Crosshair came into the back with them, his helmet on over his head, and carrying both Hunter and Kimber’s helmets under his arm. The ramp to the ship lowered and Crosshair led his two hostages and the other soldiers out. Kimber recognized the Kaminoan hangar right away and could hear the clapping of the thunderstorms behind them outside. They were greeted by a young human male with light skin, brown hair and dressed in an Imperial officer’s uniform. Judging by the badge he had on his chest, Kimber deduced he was most likely an Admiral of some sort. He was escorted by five troopers; two in dark armor matching Crosshair’s and three in regular white armor. Crosshair and his group halted in front of the Imperial officer.

The Imperial asked in a deep, authoritative voice, “Where are the rest of them?”

“They’ll be here. We’ll intercept upon arrival,” Crosshair informed him. 

The Admiral directed his attention to Hunter and Kimber and stepped closer to them. “So you’re the ones they call ‘Hunter’ and ‘Kimber’,” he greeted them, his tone bordering on condescending. “The destruction your squad caused on Ryloth got my attention.”

Neither of them said a word to him and just remained stoic in their expressions.

It was then the Admiral took notice of the mark on Kimber’s face, which had darkened a bit more over time, and he commented, “A shame that such a lovely face like yours had to be so marred.”

She sneered, immediately annoyed at his backhanded compliment, and replied, “Keep talking like that and you’ll be saying that to yourself in a mirror.”

That earned her an elbow to the arm from Hunter, warning her to stay quiet.

“Admiral Tarkin described you as quite the feral woman…and I see he was correct in that regard,” said the Imperial. When he just got a glare in return, he turned back to Crosshair. “I leave this to you, Commander. Stay on schedule.”

Crosshair and his soldiers walked around the Admiral, forcefully pushing Hunter and Kimber forward, which aggravated them even more. They walked through the hangar and into the brightly-lit halls of Tipoca City, which was certainly something Kimber hadn’t missed at all. The strange thing, though, was that the halls were practically empty. There were no Clone troopers or Kaminoans walking around. Not even any young Clone cadets could be seen. Only a couple Imperial soldiers walked by and that was it. 

“Where are all the regs?” Hunter inquired. 

“When did you start caring about them?” Crosshair asked back, now with his blaster pointed at Hunter's back as they walked and having given Kimber's helmet to the other soldier with them. 

“No Kaminoans either,” said Hunter. Then it dawned on him. “This facility's being decommissioned.”

Kimber sighed as she now realized that upon hearing Hunter say it aloud. “Of course…,” she whispered. 

Hearing no reply to the contrary, Hunter remarked to Crosshair, “You don't seem too concerned.”

“Why would I be?” Crosshair questioned. 

Stopping to face his brother, Hunter responded, “Because the Empire will be phasing out Clones next.”

Jabbing his blaster into Hunter's chest, Crosshair stated, “Not the ones that matter.”

As Hunter glared at him, Kimber went on to ask him sharply, “What will that mean for me, then? I'm not a Clone. Are you saying I don't matter?”

“You've pushed your luck enough,” Crosshair answered her, “but I think the Empire could still make use of you.” 

“You think I’m just going to let the Empire use me the same way they’re using you? Not a chance,” she said snidely. 

The other trooper then pushed her forward with the tip of his gun and ordered, “Keep moving.”

The four of them continued on a few more feet and rounded a corner where they entered a Kaminoan security control room. The room was mostly lit by several multicolored holographic projections throughout. One of Crosshair's squadmates informed him that they had detected a ship entering the planet's system, but they had lost it below the scanner range, which Crosshair affirmed was the rest of Clone Force 99 and another one of the troopers said they would notify the scouts.

“Don't bother. They'll come to us,” Crosshair stated. Then he looked at Hunter and Kimber as he added, “They don't leave their own behind...most of the time.”

“Really? You're going to pull that card?” Kimber snapped as Crosshair removed his helmet.

“You tried to kill us. We didn't have a choice,” Hunter said sternly.

Crosshair sat down on one of the bowl-like seats in the room, scoffed lightly and asked as he placed a toothpick in his mouth, “And I did?”

Something about that simple question rendered both Kimber and Hunter speechless and they were unsure how to respond. Kimber almost said he did have a choice, but then remembered the inhibitor chip. In truth, he hadn't had a choice, but they hadn't known that at the time and that still didn't change the fact that he had shot at them and tried to kill them. All she could do was glance at Hunter with uncertainty, not knowing quite what to do. 

Hunter stayed quiet, too, for a moment, his mind going over every possible thing he could say to sway his brother. Despite how frustrated he was with Crosshair, there was still a part of him that wanted to get through to him. If not for his own sake, then for Kimber's. Crosshair's absence and actions had affected her the most and he hated seeing her suffer because of the chip in Crosshair's head. If there was a chance he could do something before the rest of his squad got involved, then he had to try and take it. 

He moved closer to Crosshair and said in a quieter voice so only they could hear, “Crosshair, we've seen what the Empire's doing...occupying planets and silencing anyone who stands against them. You know it's not right.”

Standing up from his seat and removing the toothpick, Crosshair replied nonchalantly, “You still don't see the bigger picture…but you will.”

“Ugh, just stop with the bigger picture talk. That's not what this is about,” Kimber put in, vexed at his inability to see past that mindset. 

Hunter sighed, exasperated. “Can't you see they're using you?” he asked, shaking his head. “It's that inhibitor chip in your head. It's making you follow--”

His words were cut off by the sound of an alarm blaring over the sound system and one of the troopers informing Crosshair that there was an unauthorized entry on one of the platforms. Hunter and Kimber exchanged knowing looks. The others were now inside the facility. 

“Right on schedule,” said Crosshair. “Time to go.”

“Crosshair, please, don't do this. I'm begging you,” Kimber pleaded with him. “Whatever you plan to do, leave the others out of it.”

He simply looked back at her and replied, “Who's the one begging now?”

As she gaped at him in disbelief, he shoved Hunter's helmet into his bound hands and then hers was given to her just as forcefully. Then they both were pushed forward again out the door by Crosshair's troopers. 

As they walked through the facility, the remainder of Crosshair's squad met up with them and continued on with them. Before long, Hunter and Kimber recognized where they were being led to. They were heading to the training room. Unfortunately, they both knew it would be easy for Crosshair and his soldiers to pick off the Bad Batch one by one since it was open ground. 

“I know what you're trying to do, Crosshair,” said Kimber as they kept going. 

Over his shoulder, he flatly replied, “Good for you.”

Knowing her squad's lives were at stake, she quietly said to him, “You said you wanted to talk back on Ryloth. Fine, then let's talk. It's not too late to stop this.”

“It is too late. You had your chance. All of this…will end here tonight,” he said back, quickening his pace away from her. 

She wanted to say more, but once again, one of the other troopers shoved her forward to keep her moving and she couldn’t suppress an annoyed growl at them. She wasn’t sure what to do. Maybe she should have just talked to Crosshair back on Ryloth when she’d been given the chance. Now, it might be too late...both for her and her squad. 

They soon reached the large training room and a wave of nostalgia hit Kimber right away. She remembered her first time in this room, fighting Droids on her own to try and prove herself to the Prime Minister. She remembered the last time they’d been to Kamino and the whole squad had been sent into this room to prove themselves to Admiral Tarkin and show the continued efficiency of Clone troopers. Now, they were back once more and it was most likely going to be the last place they’d ever see.

“Take your positions,” Crosshair ordered his troops, stopping Hunter and Kimber in place partway through the room and keeping his blaster aimed at their backs. 

The rest of the troopers situated themselves on either side of the room; two on the left and three on the right, but then they stopped around the center of the room instead of by the main entrance. Both Kimber and Hunter realized they were anticipating the Bad Batch were going to come up through the central lift instead of the entrance, knowing they’d still be following Hunter’s comm trace. They waited apprehensively for the rest of the squad to arrive. Kimber had a feeling the others would come up the lift instead of the entrance, thinking they’d get ahead of Crosshair…but unfortunately, he was already a step ahead of them. 

Kimber also took notice that one of Crosshair’s troopers had her sniper rifle on their back and she couldn’t help but sneer to herself. One way or another, she’d get her rifle back from them and if she had to, she would use it on that soldier first.

A few minutes later, just as Crosshair predicted, the central lift came up from below the floor and on the platform stood Echo, Wrecker and Tech with their weapons all drawn and Crosshair’s squad all raised their own weapons at them, showing the Clones they were outmatched. 

Patronizingly, Crosshair greeted them by tossing Hunter’s comm towards them and saying, “And here we all are…together again. You won’t be needing your weapons.”

The other soldiers slowly closed in on the Clones, warning them to get rid of their weapons. The Clones all looked to Hunter, who gave them a nod to comply. Begrudgingly, they all threw their blasters to the floor as well as a thermal detonator from Tech and Wrecker’s large vibroblade.

“See? Following orders isn’t so difficult,” Crosshair taunted them, though it was mostly directed at Hunter. Then he looked around slightly and asked the others, “Where’s your little sidekick?”

“You think we’d bring her here?” Wrecker questioned. He lifted his helmet up onto his head and added, “We’re smarter than that.”

“Lying was never your strength, Wrecker,” Crosshair stated. Then he ordered one of his soldiers to find Omega and they exited the room. 

Echo then called out, “Are you two all right?”

“We’re fine,” Kimber answered.  

“You are not. There is a contusion on your left cheek,” Tech pointed out.

Behind her, Crosshair snidely remarked, “That’s what happens to those who defy orders.”

“Yeah, something you used to be good at once,” Kimber said back. “Or have you conveniently forgotten that?”

Crosshair didn’t say anything back.

Soon, one of his troopers stated, “We’re running out of time, Commander.”

“Hold your positions,” Crosshair ordered.

It was then Hunter’s turn to look over to Crosshair and, with a glare on his face, he asked, “So this was your grand plan? Bring us here and kill us?”

“If I wanted you dead, you would be,” Crosshair said back, his voice turning dark under his helmet. “Not that it wouldn’t be justified.”

“Justified? Are you kidding me?” Kimber questioned, appalled. “What have we done that would justify killing us?”

“You betrayed everything we stood for,” Crosshair answered, “And for what? The Republic?”

Hunter responded steadfastly, “We’re loyal to each other, not some Empire.”

Crosshair then said five words that struck both Hunter and Kimber to the core:

“You weren’t loyal to me.”

The two of them went wide-eyed in shock and couldn’t find the words to reply to him. That wasn’t the response they were anticipating. 

He continued, “I was one of you. You may have forgotten, but I haven’t. And it’s why I’m going to give you what you never gave me...a chance.”

Crosshair’s squad all turned their heads to him in surprise and even the other Clones were astonished, too. Hunter and Kimber still remained silent. What did this mean for them? What was Crosshair really doing?

Just then, he put a finger up to the side of his helmet, getting a transmission. Then he spoke aloud, “Send her on a shuttle off-world.”

Kimber’s anxiety spiked hearing that. That meant Omega had been found.

“Crosshair, don’t,” Hunter said.

“It’s for her own good…and yours,” Crosshair said back.

Hunter pushed further, insisting, “Omega belongs with us.”

“Living among fugitives where she’s in constant danger?” Crosshair asked. Then he scoffed in bemusement. “You want to protect the kid, then let her go. Stop pretending to be something you're not, Hunter.”

Before she could stop herself, Kimber said snarkily back, “Oh, that's rich coming from you, Crosshair, thinking you have any importance in this Empire! You think this is who you are? You're no different than the regs you claim to hate so much.”

Turning to Kimber, Crosshair replied, “I am not. None of us are.” He looked back at Hunter. “You know this, too, Hunter. We're not like the regs. We never have been. We're superior.” Once again, his tone grew ominous as he went on, “The Empire can't protect the galaxy without strength. This is what we were made for. Think of all we could do...together.”

With one fluid motion, Crosshair then pulled out Hunter's knife from his belt and broke Hunter's cuffs with one downward stroke. Afterwards, he pushed him forward towards his brothers. Kimber inhaled shakily in fear of whatever Crosshair had planned.

“We were brothers once,” Crosshair said to Hunter, not paying heed to Kimber still beside him. “We can be again.”

Kimber wanted that more than anything; it was all she had wished for, for months and at any other time, she would've welcomed that chance without hesitation…but something in his voice indicated that what he was proposing was not what she or any of the others wanted. Something still wasn’t right.

Hunter inquired suspiciously, “Why would we trust you?”

In response, Crosshair aimed his blaster at them again.

“No!” Kimber cried out, going to run forward.

“Don’t move,” Crosshair ordered, whirling around on her and pointing his blaster her way. When she stopped, he then said, “I don’t want to make you a part of this.”

“Commander?” one of the troopers asked, puzzled at the favoritism his Commander was showing.

Kimber glared harshly at Crosshair. Now, he had the audacity to care about what happened to her and put her above his brothers? All she wanted to do was give him a piece of her mind, but with the blaster pointed at her, she was disgruntled and kept her mouth shut.

With that, Crosshair turned his weapon back to his brothers and then ordered his squad to stand down, but to everyone’s surprise, they actually refused his order and kept their weapons aimed at the Clones. The tension of the moment was almost palpable as the Clones and Kimber apprehensively waited for Crosshair’s next move. 

They weren’t prepared for what happened next. 

Crosshair fired his blaster…off to the side, where the shot suddenly bounced off the wall and around the room in the blink of an eye and, to the Clones’ and Kimber’s shock, all of Crosshair’s squadmates dropped dead to the floor, each of them with a smoking hole in their bodies. In that moment, the Bad Batch all discovered that Crosshair's reflective discs had been strategically placed throughout the room and had reflected his shot to kill his squad. 

He had been planning for this all along. 

When everyone looked to Crosshair with both curiosity and caution, he approached them, took off his helmet and asked Hunter, “Does that answer your question?”

“Crosshair…!” Kimber gasped out, still too stunned at what had just happened. She was stunned even more when Crosshair unexpectedly turned to face her and cut her bindings off with Hunter’s knife.

However, any hope in the situation was short-lived as Crosshair started walking towards them, his blaster aimed at them again. Hunter put himself in front of Kimber and they both guardedly moved back as Crosshair advanced.

“You all are meant for more than drifting through the galaxy. It’s time to stop running,” he said to them as he then lowered his weapon. Then he implored them, “Join the Empire…and you will have purpose again.”

Kimber could feel her heart dropping. She should’ve known this seemed too easy and too good to be true. “You think that’s what this is all about: not knowing our purpose?” she asked in unbelief.

“You really don’t get who we are, do you?” Hunter also questioned. 

Crosshair’s face darkened from the shadows that framed his face and his facial expressions contorted with enmity, his eyes widening with fury. “Don’t make the same mistake twice. Don’t become my enemy,” he threatened, a growl in his low voice unlike anything they’d ever heard from him before. 

“Crosshair…we never were,” Hunter countered, his expression crestfallen.

Finally, Kimber had had enough. She was so disheartened at Crosshair’s relentless insistence that they join the Empire and acting as though they were the villains in this situation. There were things she wanted to say to him that she’d been bottling up the whole time. Inside, she felt like a dam ready to burst and couldn’t let this go on any longer. 

She pushed past Hunter’s arm, stepped up and asked, “Crosshair...can you look me in the eye and tell me that you're truly happy with the Empire?”

“Kimber, no,” Hunter said warningly.

She ignored him and kept going, her gaze set intently on Crosshair and her voice strong and tenacious, “Can you look me...in the eye...and tell me that you would rather obey the Empire's orders and impose oppression on several planets than traversing the galaxy with us? I know you think we're meant for more than that, but would that really be so bad right now? Wouldn't you rather just be with us instead of helping spread terror through the galaxy?” She took another step closer to him and her tone turned to pleading. “You know what the Empire is doing is wrong. With them, you might have found a semblance of acceptance in a time of pain, but did you really find happiness or purpose? I refuse to believe you have. I know you think we abandoned you...and I am sorry for that.” 

Listening to her, Crosshair’s face seemingly began to soften slightly.

“You think you're giving us a chance, but that's not what this is. You now have a chance to escape all of this!” she said emotionally. Then she took a risk and moved even closer to him so she was directly in front of him, looking up into his face, and she laid her hands on his arms, which made him flinch. “Come back with us, Crosshair. Come back to your family, where you really belong. You need us...and more importantly, we need you. I need you. I need my partner back. I need my brother back. You and me, we're the eyes in the sky together...remember? I've said these things a thousand times and I'll say them a thousand more. Please, I'm begging you...come home, brother.” 

She released his arms and stepped back, her eyes searching his face for his potential reaction. There was conflict in his eyes as he glanced down to the ground, seemingly in deep thought. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking and she wished she could see into his mind. Had anything she said had an affect on him at all? Had she finally been able to get through to him? 

Finally, he spoke up, “Kimber…I--”

The alarms inside the room went off all of a sudden, which made everyone jump in surprise. Right after that, the turret towers rose up from the ground as did several rows of training Droids. This was an unexpected complication. To make things worse, Hunter suddenly sprinted past Kimber and tackled Crosshair to the ground.

“No…!” Kimber groaned at seeing that happen, just when she thought maybe she’d gotten through to Crosshair, but there was no time to focus on it as, a second later, the Droids started firing on them. 

Kimber quickly leapt and rolled behind the barricade closest to her as the other three grabbed their weapons from off the ground and started firing at the Droids. As she crouched behind her cover, she spotted the now dead trooper that had her sniper rifle and she pulled it off of their back.

“Serves you right,” she mumbled aloud as she put the rifle back together. Then she leaned back and placed her back against the battlement just as Echo crouched behind it next to her.

“Hey, why did you activate the Droids?” she heard Wrecker ask loudly in annoyance.

“This was not my doing,” Tech responded. 

Echo and Kimber both popped up from behind their cover and took some more shots at the Droids, which now seemed to be coming from every corner of the room.

“Ugh, they're everywhere!” Kimber complained.

“I don't know what brought them in here, but be careful, Kim,” Echo told her.

As she kept shooting at the Droids, she glanced over to where Hunter and Crosshair were still struggling against each other on the ground, wishing they would stop. Then there came a shot from high up, taking out one of the Droids closest to them. When she looked up, she saw Omega up on one of the towers, her bow drawn, and next to her was AZI, the medical Droid. All Kimber could do was hope the kid would stay safe in this fight. She continued fending off the Droids coming their way and she saw Hunter finally kick Crosshair off of him. They continued to fight as they got to their feet. Kimber wanted to keep her eyes on them to ensure they didn't hurt each other, but there were more Droids heading for them. Her first instinct was to protect both of them, so she continued shooting the Droids behind them. 

A few seconds later, she saw Hunter grab Crosshair around his waist, pick him up and then full on body slam him to the ground, rolling over top of him and coming back up with both his blaster in one hand and his vibroblade in the other. With Crosshair down for a moment, Hunter seized the opportunity to start shooting the Droids, as well.

Just then, another set of Droids came up from the floor right in the middle of the room; behind Hunter and in between the battlements everyone else was hiding behind. Kimber jumped over to the other side as Echo moved himself out of the way, too, as did Wrecker and Tech on their side. Hunter also turned around to fight them, leaving his back exposed to Crosshair. They were all now completely surrounded, but they weren't going to give up. 

Kimber fired at the new wave of Droids...and then heard the familiar sound of another sniper rifle.

Her head whipped around and she was astonished to see Crosshair had stood up with his rifle and was now also shooting the Droids. He wasn't running or trying to go for Hunter while his back was turned. He was actually helping her and the others fight the current threat! She couldn't believe it! 

The others noticed, too, and it felt as though they had an extra push to fight as hard as they could. Wrecker came out from behind the battlement, drawing his large blade, and stabbed the Droid closest to him, kicking it back to give everyone room to move. Everyone jumped out into the open at once, their weapons firing all around the room at the Droids. In that pivotal moment, with all six members of the Bad Batch back together in the same place, it felt as though they were fighting as a real squad again.

Kimber saw movement off to the side of the room and saw that the one remaining member of Crosshair's Imperial squad; the one who had gone off to find Omega had returned. Seeing that the rest of the squad had been killed off by their Commander, Kimber saw no reason to leave this one standing. She directed her sights onto the Imperial soldier and fired at her, but she were quick to avoid Kimber's shots as she backed out and ran out the training room's side door. Kimber ran forward a couple steps to go after her, but then she stopped, glancing back at her boys. She couldn't leave them now, not when they were in danger. They needed her here. She was just going to have to let the Imperial soldier go. 

As she ran back into the fray, Wrecker threw a Droid through the air that crashed into another one. Then Hunter ran at a Droid, jumped up onto it and stabbed right into its neck area with his knife. The Droid started short-circuiting and wobbling with Hunter still holding onto it until Crosshair took a shot directly at its head. As it toppled over, Hunter leapt off and the two of them shared a quick glance before diverting their attention to other incoming attacks. Wrecker, Echo and Tech had moved to higher ground while Hunter, Kimber and Crosshair stayed on the main level.

Kimber was shooting at the Droids and evading their shots when she found herself back to back against Hunter, who met her gaze over his shoulder, smirked and then told her as they continued fighting, “I couldn't say it before, so I'll say it now: you are by far the most hot headed trouble-seeker of a woman I've ever met.”

Knowing he was referring to her misbehavior back on the shuttle, she just grinned to herself and said back, “Compliment me later, Sergeant.” Then she took back up her rifle and resumed firing at the Droids, ducking out of the way of a bolt that shot just between them and springing off to the side. She fired a shot at the Droid that had just fired at them and it went straight through the center. 

“Kimber, behind you!” Wrecker called to her on the other side of the room. 

She heard the warning and turned around to see a Droid right behind her. Before she could react, the Droid shoved her, sending her flying back a few feet and her rifle fell out of her hand. She quickly sat up and saw two blaster bolts come from behind her and hit the Droid in the neck and the head. When she looked behind her, she expected it to be Hunter, but she was wrong.

Her savior had been Crosshair. 

He simply gave her a nod and went back to fighting the rest of the enemies. She was taken aback for a brief moment. He had saved Hunter earlier and now, he had just saved her. Surely, that had to mean something; that he still cared…maybe the Crosshair she knew was beginning to come back. 

Swiftly, Kimber picked up her rifle, got to her and rejoined in the fight. She noticed Omega had somehow made her way down from the tower to the ground along with AZI. The number of Droids left was dwindling down thanks to everyone’s efforts and very soon, all of them were taken down. Now, all that was left was dealing with Crosshair. Hunter and Crosshair were in the center of the room; Wrecker, Echo, Tech and Omega were all on one side and Kimber was on the other and they all closed in towards the middle of the room just as Crosshair faced Hunter…and Hunter raised his blaster at him. 

“Hunter, please don’t!” Kimber cried out, coming up next to him. She stole a look at Crosshair across from him and he looked conflicted...even minorly defeated. Though, when she looked back at Hunter, there was a forlorn look in his face and in his eyes as he gazed over at his brother.

Then he spoke, desperately pleading similarly to how Kimber had earlier, “Crosshair…forget the Empire. This isn’t you. It’s your inhibitor chip. We can help you.”

Crosshair shook his head and responded, his voice low again, “Wrong. I had my chip removed…a long time ago.”

That response stunned all the Clones and they were rendered speechless.

For Kimber…her world was shattered in an instant.

Crosshair’s chip had been removed? What did this mean? More importantly, when had this happened? Given all the things he’d done in general, to his brothers and the things he’d done to her, how much of it had been because of the chip and how much of it had been of his own volition? All this time, she’d believed he could never have done any of those things of his own free will; the Crosshair she knew and loved would never threaten her, his family or other innocent people! No…he had to be lying. There was no way this was true. Her blood ran cold and her body went numb just thinking about it.

Finally, Hunter broke the silence. “Since when?” he asked.

“Does it matter?” Crosshair asked in return, exasperated and with a shake of his head. 

“Yes!” Hunter growled at him, his teeth now clenching in anger at Crosshair’s reluctance to answer.

Kimber wanted to shout at him that of course it mattered when he got his chip out and to demand he tell the truth, but she was too stunned to speak. All she could do was stare at Crosshair.

Then, with a look of frustration, Crosshair responded to Hunter, “This…is who I am.”

“No...NO!” Kimber finally screamed, a mix of sorrow and outrage growing within her. “This is not who you are, Crosshair! Stop lying to us! I know you and you would never do any of this willingly! You would never! Please, tell me this isn’t true!”

He glanced over at her, but his expression remained unchanged and he said nothing back to her. That only broke Kimber’s heart even more and she felt incredibly betrayed, even more than she had before on Bracca. 

“No…it can’t be,” she thought despairingly in her mind.

As he turned his glaring attention back to Hunter, she noticed his hand that held his rifle twitch ever so slightly and his finger was inching up towards the trigger.

Crosshair brought up his weapon and a stun blast was fired.

Hunter watched as Crosshair got disoriented, fell to his knees and then collapsed forward onto the floor. However, he had been shocked to see Crosshair drop all of a sudden because the stun shot had not come from his own blaster, even though he had been a millisecond away from firing it. His head turned to Kimber next to him and he saw she was standing there, her eyes wide in sad horror, panting heavily and with her rifle raised.

She had been the one to stun him. 

Taking note of the pain in her eyes, Hunter sheathed his vibroblade, put away his blaster and approached her, gently placing one hand on her arm and the other on her rifle. “Easy, love. It’s okay,” he said to try and help calm her, lightly pushing down on her weapon to get her to lower it.

“No…it’s not,” she replied, tears forming in her eyes.

He removed his hand from her rifle and brought it up to her face, tenderly rubbing his thumb on her cheek and giving her an encouraging look, one that was silently telling her to stay strong. Even though what had just happened was heartbreaking, they were going to be okay and figure things out. She wasn’t confident in what he was trying to tell her, but she still appreciated his attempt to reassure her nonetheless and she leaned more into his hand, taking in what warmth she could.

After he stepped away, they realized everyone else was walking up to them and Omega suddenly came running down and threw her arms around Hunter, relieved to see he was okay. Kimber, however, kept her eyes on Crosshair unconscious on the floor. She didn’t know who she was really looking at anymore. What would she even say to him whenever he came to? She wanted to scream, cry, run away, punch him while he was down…then right then, she felt a pair of arms hug her around her waist, pulling her out of her thoughts and back into reality. When she glanced down, she found herself looking into the bright, brown eyes and smiling face of Omega. Grateful for the young girl’s comforting hug, Kimber laid a hand on Omega’s head and smoothed her hair, mustering up a smile for her. After the kid let her go, Kimber walked over to where everyone else was standing around, watching Hunter crouch down beside Crosshair and inspect his head.

A few seconds passed when they all heard beeping and Tech stepped forward, declaring urgently to Hunter while looking at his datapad, “Three Venators are descending into the city. We need to leave now.”

Heeding Tech’s warning, Hunter proceeded to pick up Crosshair’s rifle and pack, placed the pack on his own back and ordered Wrecker to grab Crosshair. “He’s coming with us,” he said.

Kimber hadn’t expected Hunter to say that, given the information she’d just learned about Crosshair. “We’re…taking him back?” she asked Hunter, a slight sliver of hope in her tone just as Wrecker lifted Crosshair and slung him over his shoulder.

He gave her a nod. “We’ll figure things out with him once we get out of here…but we’re not leaving him behind again,” he avowed.

She would’ve burst into tears in that moment if they weren’t in immediate danger, so she withheld her emotions for the time being. Putting her rifle on her back, she gave him a nod back and stated, “Let’s leave this Forceforsaken place.”

With that, the Clones, Kimber and AZI took off running from the training room and into the bright white hallways of Tipoca City, the urgency of their situation giving them the speed they needed. They were all reunited, they had Crosshair back with them--albeit a bit against his will--and now, they had to get away before the Empire cornered them and captured them. They had to move fast.

Suddenly, everything around them trembled. The ground shook beneath them and they all started to stumble and lose their balance. The lights in the corridor flickered briefly and then were suddenly shut off. Something was happening outside and it definitely wasn’t good. Hunter called to everyone to hurry and get to the outside lift. They picked up speed and reached the door to the outside, halting immediately as they got out into the rain.

To everyone’s terror, they saw and could hear laser fire raining down from the sky onto the city and everything before them was being destroyed. In seconds, there was a huge, thundering explosion directly in front of them, blowing up a good portion of the pathway. 

“Back inside! Go!” Hunter cried out, turning around and going back the other way.

Kimber turned to follow and saw that Omega was still standing in place, watching in fright the horrors that were unfolding in front of her as her home was being destroyed before her very eyes. AZI had grabbed her hand, but she wasn’t moving. 

“Omega, we have to go! Now!” Kimber cried frantically, taking Omega by the shoulders and giving her a necessary shove back towards the door and after the others.

Just as Omega started running, another laser blast suddenly hit the spot where she had just been standing, blowing up a chunk of the bridge, and the force of the blast sent Kimber flying backwards further down the pathway. She rolled and ended up going over the broken edge, but her hand quickly grabbed the ledge. Unfortunately, she could feel her gloved hand already starting to lose her grip on the ledge that was slick from the heavy rain. She heard, even over the sounds of the Venator fire, Omega and a couple of the others scream her name, but she knew that if any of them came out after her, they would more than likely get killed.

All she could do was yell, “Run!” just before her hold on the edge of the bridge was lost.

[626es]

Y'all, im so proud of this one. Idc the pics aren't great, the finished item wasn't so perfect either. But I had so much fun making this one. Story of the piece first, then pattern info below

This project has tons of meaning to me n I figured I'd share the story here.

I made this project for a friend who also crafts. We chat regularly about our crafts and she often makes art for me and everyone in my apartment. We have some creative overlap, but not a ton. Historically, I've not been so great at crafting for others and hadn't made anything for her yet.

In any case, we chat with each other about crafts we see that we are excited about or think the other may be excited about. One day when she was over, we were chatting crafts again and she mentioned she was seeing lots of temperature blankets in her feed n wondered if I'd ever thought about making one.

Truth be told, I'd never made one for myself and couldn't see myself wanting to make one. I let her know this as well. Not for any particular reason, just never felt the need to. It was a pretty casual conversation and we moved onto other topics.

Fast forward a bit and we are chatting again and she lets me know her partner had proposed. She said yes and they had set a date for two years in the future for a special date for them.

It clicked maybe a month later that this time frame, their engagement period, would be perfect for a temperature blanket. I had doubts at first if I wanted to make it, but started getting thoughts on how to work it all out. The only thing I had for certain was fall pallet for the colors as it's their favorite season. I talked it over with some other friends who also know her, and after many many many reassurances, I decided to go for it.

Honest, this is the most I'd ever planned for any project. I researched types of temperature blankets, typical temperature ranges for our area, how to divide the time frame and temperature range, I swear, it's a whole spreadsheet with many tabs of research and planning. In the end, I decided on 9 colors with about 7°F increments where each chevron represents the average temperature for one week of their engagement. I also made a knitted scale (not pictured) of the colors in order from coldest to warmest and wrote on the card for the gift how the scale lines up to actual temperatures just so she and her family could look back and get more info from it if they ever wanted.

It was helpful to tell myself during the process that she would never see it coming as I'd previously mentioned I wasn't interested in making one. And if she didn't know I was working on it, I could ditch it at any point if it wasn't turning out.

I managed to keep the whole project a secret as I worked on it. Making sure I got advance warning when she would come over so I could make sure it was hidden away, sometimes even just making decoy projects to keep her off the trail. She would definitely suspect something if I all the sudden stopped talking about crafts. It was honestly incredible as it expanded my ability to work on multiple projects at once, which I was definitely not so comfy with when I first started crafting.

As common for gift projects, there was a clock and oh gosh was it a race! I barely had it blocked before I wanted to give it to her (yeah, I know the deadline was only enforced by me), but I wanted to give it to her as an additional wedding gift. I ended up being able to gift it to her at the rehearsal dinner, so really just in time!

I'm so happy with how it turned out, and had so much fun playing with the process and planning for this project. I definitely learned a lot and would have done a few things different if I could go back, but overall I'm super proud of it 😊

Pattern is Frankie Brown's Ten Stitch Zigzag

[guardian-angle22]

I promised a book haul of all the exciting books I purchased on my travels to London and Edinburgh! y'all... I bought TEN books...

Here is the stack of books and also some cute bookmarks I got from various places!

Here is the breakdown of all the books with their official descriptions:

Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson

Rosemary meets Ash at the farmers’ market. Ash—precise, pretty, and practically perfect—sells bars of soap in delicate pastel colors, sprinkle-spackled cupcakes stacked on scalloped stands, beeswax candles, jelly jars of honey, and glossy green plants. Ro has never felt this way about another woman; with Ash, she wants to be her and have her in equal measure. But as her obsession with Ash consumes her, she may find she’s not the one doing the devouring…

Monsters: What Do We Do With Great Art By Bad People? by Claire Dederer

Pablo Picasso beat his partners. Richard Wagner was deeply antisemitic. David Bowie slept with an underage fan. But many of us still love Guernica and the Ring cycle and Ziggy Stardust. And what are we to do with that love? How are we, as fans, to reckon with the biographical choices of the artists whose work sustains us? Wildly smart and insightful, Monsters is an exhilarating attempt to understand our relationship with art and the artist in the twenty-first century.

Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi

One weekend. The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. A breakup that starts a spiral. A party that goes awry. A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed. Little Rot is a whirling journey through the city’s dark side, told through the eyes of five people, each determined to run from the twisted powers out to destroy them. Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from his loss, visits a sex party hosted by his best friend, Ahmed, he makes a decision that will plunge them all into chaos, brutally upending their lives. Ola and Souraya, two Nigerian sex workers visiting from Kuala Lumpur, intersect with the three old friends as everything goes to hell. Sucked into the city’s corrupt underworld, they’re all looking for a way out of the trouble they’ve instigated, driven by loss and fueled by a desperate need to escape the dangerous threat that looms over them. They careen madly in the face of the poison of power, sexual violence, murder, betrayals. Little Rot tests how far these five will go to save each other—or themselves—when confronted by evil, culminating in a shattering denouement.

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht—the night his family loses everything. As her child’s safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.

Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Díaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Durán, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother.

Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers—and never stop dreaming.

Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood by bell hooks

Stitching together the threads of her girlhood memories, bell hooks shows us one strong-spirited child's journey toward becoming the pioneering writer we know. Along the way, hooks sheds light on the vulnerability of children, the special unfurling of female creativity and the imbalance of a society that confers marriage's joys upon men and its silences on women. In a world where daughters and fathers are strangers under the same roof, and crying children are often given something to cry about, hooks uncovers the solace to be found in solitude, the comfort to be had in the good company of books. Bone Black allows us to bear witness to the awakening of a legendary author's awareness that writing is her most vital breath.

A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman

Both seventeen. Both afraid. But both saying yes. It sounded like the perfect first date: canoeing across a chain of lakes, sandwiches and beer in the cooler. But teenagers Amelia and James discover something below the water’s surface that changes their lives forever. It’s got two stories. It’s got a garden. And the front door is open. It’s a house at the bottom of a lake. For the teens, there is only one rule: no questions. And yet, how could a place so spectacular come with no price tag? While the duo plays house beneath the waves, one reality remains: Just because a house is empty, doesn’t mean nobody’s home.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

Kissen’s family were killed by zealots of a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing gods, and enjoys it. That is until she finds a god she cannot kill: Skedi, a god of white lies, has somehow bound himself to a young noble, and they are both on the run from unknown assassins. Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, they must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour. Pursued by demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning – something is rotting at the heart of their world, and only they can be the ones to stop it.

People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn

Renowned and beloved as a prizewinning novelist, Dara Horn has also been publishing penetrating essays since she was a teenager. Often asked by major publications to write on subjects related to Jewish culture—and increasingly in response to a recent wave of deadly antisemitic attacks—Horn was troubled to realize what all of these assignments had in common: she was being asked to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the mythology that Jewish family names were changed at Ellis Island, the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz, the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China, and the little-known life of the "righteous Gentile" Varian Fry. Throughout, she challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, and so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present. Horn draws upon her travels, her research, and also her own family life—trying to explain Shakespeare’s Shylock to a curious ten-year-old, her anger when swastikas are drawn on desks in her children’s school, the profound perspective offered by traditional religious practice and study—to assert the vitality, complexity, and depth of Jewish life against an antisemitism that, far from being disarmed by the mantra of "Never forget," is on the rise. As Horn explores the (not so) shocking attacks on the American Jewish community in recent years, she reveals the subtler dehumanization built into the public piety that surrounds the Jewish past—making the radical argument that the benign reverence we give to past horrors is itself a profound affront to human dignity.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

In 1949 Helene Hanff, a “poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books”, wrote to Marks & Co Booksellers of 84 Charing Cross Rd, in search of the rare editions she was unable to find in New York. Her books were dispatched with polite but brisk efficiency. But, seeking further treasures, Helene soon found herself in regular correspondence with bookseller Frank Doel, laying siege to his English reserve with her warmth and wit. And as letters, books and quips crossed the ocean, a friendship flourished that would endure for twenty years.

Rouge by Mona Awad

For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass. Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

[dreamersville]

Hand Holding w/Izuku & Bakugou

an? i loveeeeee loveee loveeee small things like hand holding and walking arm arm and huggs and just physical touch in genereal just make me sooo 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰. *sighs* back to reality. um i realy dont know where i was going with these fr but 900 words later and here we are, i do hope y’all enjoy💜. request are open.

pairings? izuku x reader, bakugou x reader

tw? none

Izuku - imagine 3rd year izuku all beefed p from the previous 2 years of training, he grew more into his quirk and in turn growing more into his body, kinda lost the baby face but them eyes man whewww chilee

Anywaysssss, you and him are dating without the title if that makes sense, it's not that yall dont want the title it just that's all sorted never put a label on it, its during you're Modern hero Art class that you all have a break because midnight was needed elsewhere for moment, naturally you found a pair of red sneakers making there to you as you lay with your head on your desk, you sit up expecting izuku to take his usually place on top of your desk but instead he just stands to the side, shifting from feet to feet. Like he was nervous or sum, you were about to crack a joke until izuku made a fleet attempt to grab the hand you were previously laying on, now idk what he thought he was finna accomplish butttttt yea. Cute attempt tho, you clutch your stomach from laughing so hard as izuku stands there and buries his face in his hand trying to hide his reddening face from you, but you catch on while you were recovering from that intense laughing fit, “you wanted to do something izu zu” you asj trying to pry his hands from his face, now while you and izuku are closer than you are will your other class mater yall try not to go to hard with the PDA and holding hands??? Seems like a lot of PDA  … to say that I don't usually do these types of things, but I mean there's nothing wrong with a little change. Instead of trying to decipher izuku mumbling, you simply take the hand that you have already freed from his face and intertwine your fingers together. Somehow this increases izuku mumbling so you sigh as you make him sit on your desk and you sit back in your seat stroking his hand that you're not holding with you to let him calm down from his rant.

Bakugou- yall dont understand how much i eat this trope up ( he insecure about his hand cause they sweat) bandwagon so bad   its really ridiculous, but i needed a break from it,  so here we areeeee, katsuki who kinda calmed down ??? like yeah all you mfs still extras and what not but obviously y'all should know by now so it's not point in reiterating it again. Anyways, you and bakugou are helping baku squad study before these finals come around, which eventually turned into you guys just lazing around talking and watching tv. Strange things is playing in the background, while denki and sero are arguing about which song would be able to get them from the upside faster mina is humming a song as placing bows and barretts in kiri’s hair you look to your left and see bakugou and jirou talking further down the coach from you , so you lay back with one ar, stitching over your head while your other arm is being draped over your eyes and you relax back into the couch. It seems like you took a little nap as when you wake up, mostly everything and everybody is being cleared from the common room. Do you move, sit up and stretch and feel your hand being restricted? No that's not the right word, you shift your gaze to where your hand is and see why you couldn't move your hand, bakugou, bakugou katsuki was holding your hand in his lap while he was laying next to you phone on his chest as an almight video counties to play, to say that you are shocked truly feels like a understatement for the amount of feelings you are feeling right now, why would he want to be holding your hand, in his sleep nonetheless, yeah he yells at you less and lets you in his dorm sometimes but that's just to yk study and stuff, not that you ever get any studying down because you are always trying to glance at bakugou to already see he's looking at you and yea maybe you and him both know yall dont need to go out and get the groceries together despite it not being yall week just so y'all could laugh and talk and you could convince to sneak a few extra snacks in and sure you might have caught his looking at you sometimes… okay. Maybe you have a crush and maybe your crush likes you back, but this is too much to deal with after you woke up from a nap that you weren't even trying to take, through the mist of all your thinking bakugou woke up from his nap ??? If you could even call it that fr, anyways he’s been up long enough to see that you saw him holding your hand and he heard you muttering about crushes and what not so he thought he'd just yk confess, so he does all while he is still holding your hand.

[inkabelledesigns]

What's this? Kat posting sketches?!

Yeah! Yes it is! XD So a dear friend has been really loving Kirby OC stuff, and as a result, I've seen a lot of them on my feed, and they're all really cool! So I took it as a challenge to try and make my own, see if we could create something that looks like it belongs in this world. Full disclosure, I'm only familiar with a couple of Kirby games. Epic Yarn and Forgotten Land are the big ones, one I've played and the other I've watched friends stream. But I used to listen to a lot of music from this series in high school, it's sooo good.

So this is Bobbin Bobble, the yarn witch in training! Bobbin for the part on a sewing machine, Bobble for the bobble stitch in crochet (thank you to my cousin that crochets for showing me this stitch exists, that's awesome). She might have Bobbi as a nickname, we'll see. She's very fiber arts themed and probably engages in a variety of them. XD I think the bottom sketch on the left image is my favorite, that's her. Her crochet hook is both a magic staff and a hook that can be used for traversing and combat. I imagine it functioning kind of like Sky Cooper's cane, if that helps any. She's very much a bookworm, loves to cozy up with a good book for stories and for learning all the world has to offer. But she's also very keen on putting that knowledge to the test. She will often overestimate how much she knows about something from reading and expect herself to apply that knowledge perfectly on her first try, which gets her into trouble. Sometimes she gets very heated when she doesn't get it right, but give her time to cool down, and she'll get up to try again.

Y'all, Kirby fans you're holding out on me. You have like THREE arts and crafts witches and one evil yarn wizard, and I love them all. I wanna write them as an extended family, so that's what we're gonna do. So Bobbin has Yin Yarn, Drawcia, and Paintra as like, uncle and aunts (unclear on how Claycia factors into this). I think she's closest with Yin Yarn, though they probably butt heads a fair amount (I'm imagining he falls into 'cringefail uncle' territory in this relationship). I think I wanna make my own witch so she has a mom, and I've been calling her Spinstra. Haven't figured her out yet, but she's got some vague spider theming and the best laugh. She's sisters with Yin Yarn. We'll see if she sticks, I could decide to go in another direction.

Still don't know how I wanna color this nerd, but I like her a lot, it's been a nice little brain break to play with her. Hope you enjoy her too! As usual, the ask box and comments are open if you wanna play together creatively. XD

[shrimp-writes]

reposting stitches here

Story time! I got attacked by a serial killer😱

Hey Guys! Hannah here, I've got another story time, yayyy! If you're new here, Hi, I'm Hannah, I tell stories, bake, vlog, do whatever i want , honestly my channel’s a mess so if any of that sounds up your alley please consider subscribing! And if you know me, then buckle up cause I've got one hell of a story to tell.

But before that, I want to thank squarespace for sponsoring this video! Squarespace is an online website builder that lets you create beautiful websites for your business, job, or hobby. There are a ton of templates for anything you need, and a ton of features to make it your own. Choose a domain ending in .com . net, or something fancy like .art! go to squarespace.com/hannahstory for 10% off your next website or domain. Thanks again to squarespace for sponsoring this video.

Alright, before we start I just wanna give a content warning, this video is gonna be way darker than my other videos, so if that's not your style, click off, okay? So, this happened about a week before I started writing the script for this video. Which, I know you’ve read the title so you're probably thinking “What?! Only a week?!? She's insane!” but guys i just HAD to get this story out. So, I assume you've all heard of the murders happening recently, the one where bodies have been found with their mouths sewn up? So, I think I had a run in with the guy that's doing them. I’m 100% sure and you’ll understand why when I tell you later.

So the story starts about a week before I began writing this script, so like. July 16th or 17th. I don't remember the exact date but it was one of the two. So anyways, a week before I started writing this, I was on a grocery run. And when I came back, I noticed my door was unlocked. I just thought I forgot to lock it but you guys know me, I'm paranoid like that, so I'm on guard.

So I sit down at my computer and start talking to my editing team like “hey I got the stuff for that baking video, after I record that which one should I do next” and they said “do another storytime people love those” and i'm like “okay which story i've got a ton” and Mark, my chief editor, said “the one from that collab you did with Jennifer last year” which you guys will be getting soon, that one's a doozy let me tell you. Anyways I say “okay, that's a good one.”

So I open up a doc to start writing the script for that video, and right as I'm about to start typing I hear a pot fall in my kitchen. I'm thinking “god dammit, Cola got into the kitchen again”, so I went to investigate. I'm not seeing Cola anywhere, and If you know Cola she likes to stick around the scene of the crime. So I start looking around and find cola locked in the pantry. She couldn't have gotten in herself, the door was closed and she can't squeeze under it, and then I remember my unlocked door, so I'm getting scared and thinking “oh my god, there’s someone in my house”. If y'all know one thing about me it's that I love horror movies and true crime so I’m thinking “okay im not sticking around long enough to find out who's here,” so I book it to the front door, and I shit you not there was someone standing in front of it.

He had this scruffy brown hair and brown eyes, he was wearing a black leather jacket and ripped jeans, he was honestly totally my type and I definitely would have been flirting with him if he hadn't broken into my house, but that's neither here nor there. Anyways, here’s why I think this is the same guy that's doing those murders; He had these markings on his mouth that looked like stitches, and if you remember the killers victims, their mouths had been sewn up. I put two and two together real fast and thought “oh my god, im gonna get murdered”.

So after a few moments of just standing and staring at each other, He lunges at me and tackles me, I'm talking full five nights at Freddy's jumpscare. He starts choking me, and my adrenaline is pumping, so everything I learned in self defense class is kicked into full gear. I wrestle him off me, and he's not making a sound the entire time, just completely silent.

I book it out the door and into my car, it's not starting. With the scary killer guy approaching, I get out and just take off screaming, hoping someone would notice and eventually I lose him. I'm not taking chances though so I go to a police station to report the whole thing. They search my house and find nothing, nobody there and no trace of a break in. So, like cops often do, just call it a day and forget about the whole thing. Honestly cops are some of the laziest people you will ever meet, it’s seriously astounding how little of their job they get right.

I've been SUPER on guard lately, thinking that guy's gonna break in at any time. I haven't left the house, I've been ordering all my groceries online, basically just barricading myself in my house like it's 2020 all over again. I've been having to do therapy and file police reports which is probably why this video has taken so long.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this story time, and if you did please consider liking and subscribing and comment below what you think! Thanks again to squarespace for sponsoring this video. I'll see you all next time, buh bye!

you didnt think id let one of my victims go did you? sorry but I cant have this stuff getting public. people like her talk a lot but they dont have much to say in the end.

XOXO - Stitches

[hccn-overseer]

Issue 32, 12/06/2023 - The Overseer

Issue Masterpost About the Overseer

News from the Shopping District

By Mateo

There has been a lot of activity in the Shopping District as of late, with shops getting busier likely due to the time of year, so I’ve decided to make a little recap of the past few weeks!

Several newer citizens have been taking the time to tour around the shopping district to explore and meet potential friends, and many citizens are seeing familiar faces in nearby shops. There are people that may or may not be going on dates, and others learning that they have more freedom to be who they are and enjoy life more, and yet more who are just visiting their shopkeeper friends. 

Our own Roo has been venturing around, meeting new people and making friends, and we are all very proud because socialization is difficult.

Open Mic Night at Get Vexed Diner, run by citizen Atelo, is always an amazing option if you want to sing to your favorite song without getting judged. Citizen Stitches, a plushie shop, is temporarily closed so that co-owner Jax can have a day off. Nox, of Nox’s Flowers (and Sculk Clearing), could probably use some positivity in these trying times.

There are several shops open dedicated to clothing, a few bookshops with mysterious owners, places where art drives the entire shop, several bakeries, and the well known Overseer Headquarters, among others like the pirate ship off in the distance that sells various treasures and trinkets.

There are so many talented shopkeepers that if we were to name all of them, the list would be longer than the wait for someone to get home so you can see their response to your latest message.

Not everything is fun and games, however. A shop has had to close down in the past few weeks due to a shift in management and repairing damage done to various parts of it. The Pharmacy™, formerly run by citizen Ender, has been taken over by citizens Avid and Cordelia (a new addition to the server) because of an incident last week involving sculk catalysts, a frying pan, several unsuspecting bystanders, and a mooshroom island. The two have been giving their best efforts to de-sculkify the shop and fix it up so it can get up and running again, but it is a slow process.

Other places have been affected by sculk spread, with several shops, including The Pharmacy™ and Nox’s Flowers (and Sculk Clearing), being visited by a citizen by the name of Mos, who is having a midlife crisis at the ripe old age of seventeen, but that is about par for the course of the Hermitcitizen Lifestyle™. If anyone sees them, just be careful.

I also write bearing a suggestion from Raidne of Raidne’s: Tailoring and Outfits for All Occasions and a newcomer, a skeleton named Roman with a pretty cool cape and active hatred of the sun. Please consider, if you haven’t already, that there are a lot of people on the server who can’t be out during the day due to the lack of shade and being partially or fully mob. If you can, if you have a shop, it might be a nice idea to have covered walkways in the shopping district so that people who are hurt by the sun can still come around and say hello.

Now onto other news below the cut!

Affiliate Summaries

By Mateo

Mumbo: Send help they're making the Josh Hutcherson whistle edit with irl Mumbo and it's scary, and also they're luring British people with tea— OH GREAT HEAVENS

Pearl: Soup (in the soup bowl)! And Wet Cat Wednesday!

Scar: The Scarland art book has been released and affiliates are celebrating! Go check it out— it's full of very talented artists.

Grian: A chandelier with birds on it. Don't ask, it's just majestic.

Joe Hills: Joe Hills (Joevember has ended).

Anyways that's all that news! See y'all next week!

Weekly Weather Report

by: Mateo

These are in Celsius! Apologies, fellow Americans!

Wednesday: Temperatures will reach highs of -1° and lows of -12°. Light snow is expected with little wind.

Thursday: Temperatures will reach highs of 0° and lows of -9°. Skies will be cloudy with wind speed of 20 miles per hour

Friday: Temperatures will reach highs of -3° and lows of -11°. Expected flurries and wind speeds of up to 30 miles an hour.

Saturday: Temperatures will reach highs of 2° and lows of -4°. Skies will be partially cloudy with little wind, but about a 50% chance for light rain later in the day.

Sunday: Temperatures will reach highs of -1° and lows of -8°. Expected thunderstorms early in the day but clearing up in the afternoon. Wind speeds from 10 to 15 miles per hour.

Monday: Temperatures will reach highs of 0° and lows of -7°. Skies will be clear with little to no wind.

Tuesday: Temperatures will reach highs of -4° and lows of -12°. Skies will be clear with higher wind speeds of 15 miles per hour.

Wednesday: Temperatures will reach highs of 3° and lows of -10°. Skies will be cloudy with wind speeds of up to 30 miles per hour, with chances of snow later in the evening.

Scarland Volcano ready for action!

By Azurecake16

Following the recent opening of Scarland, work has begun on the park's next area, Adventureland! Alongside stunning gardens, and Ellie the Elephant, this area will feature the long awaited Volcano of Scarland! Made using almost 50 000 blocks, this attraction towers over even the main castle, and is surrounded by seemingly charred forests, and is buried deep in the jungle! Wander through Adventureland to see it for yourself, it’s impossible to miss!

With many rides, plenty more secrets to come and more areas being built up, we here at the Overseer can’t wait to see where Scarland will take us next!

ADVERTISEMENTS

By Jamie

—————————————————

Greetings to all citizens! As you all very well know, Scarland is one of the fastest growing places of fun on the server, with dozens of our friends and fellow hermits working there! This past week the official Scarland Art Book was published and is open for FREE download. Please go check it out at the link!

—————————————————

To all Garden members : This Friday there shall be a meeting in the sculk bolder amongst Dwayne (Grian's Base). Please bring a mandatory daisy for entry, as well as any other florals you deem fit. Do not be late. —————————————————

CALLING ALL AVIANS! There shall be a council meeting held at the treehouse in two weeks time to discuss the possibility of a flying (elytra) course! If you have any ideas on the theme or how the trials should be set up please be prepared to present them on the 20th.

—————————————————

Fun and Games

This week's fun and games are brought to you by Azure and Rookie!

Brain Teasers by Azure

Coloring page by Rookie

And that's all for this week folks! Big thank you to our new writers and contributors and thank you to you all for reading!

[roleplayfinder]

Hiya! Sluggy here, I'm nonbinary, I'm about to be 23yo soon in a couple of months, looking for 20+ partner, I'm usually novella lit but at least ya getting long reply I can guarantee that, but I'm not about grammar because it would just stress me out and burn me out of I have to be more grammatically correct but I don't think it's too bad, but if you prefer grammar on point I would suggest probably ignoring this sorry. I love my commas y'all lol. Also I am a yapper, we can totally yap about our characters and send jokes and stuff I love that!

Before I get to the meat of this ad, rules!

1. please be patient with me, I'm a very busy person so replies are slow but they're worth it

2. 3rd person only please!

3. Please give me something to work off of, not short replies that's only for my best friend to do lol

And the warnings

I do enjoy NSFW in my roleplays, and I enjoy dark themes so please if you want to rp with me tell me your triggers so we can avoid them!

So two plots ideas I have! My muse, Sebastian, is a Mafia leader, he's dominant at times but a total flirt with a carefree attitude you almost forget he's ruthless.

Plot one.

(YM = your muse)

YM is the boss' personal physician, ym takes care of the carefree boss even if it pisses off your muse. Ripping stitches because he refuses to rest, not staying in bed when he's sick as a dog, and refusing to listen to doctor's orders? He's not an easy patient.

Probably why he went through several doctors, they all probably left because Sebastian was more trouble for what he's worth, which as much of a headache he is (like a head splitting migraine) he pays more than he probably should, 160.89k a day even when YM ain't even working, a place to stay, and anything ym could even think about needing were given to them, honestly it would be stupid to leave the infuriating man when the pay and benefits were too good.

YM was called up to the office, no surprise though news of the shoot out and a deal gone bad by police thinking they had the one up on the crazy man, ym was bound to be called up. Opening the door of rich mahogany ym step into the dark office hearing the young miss, Alice, screaming at her brother, “you idiot! An absolute idiot, what possessed you to see these people if you knew they were just undercover pigs!? You could have died!” She screamed, another common thing about working for Sebastian is he pissed everyone off for no true reason, even those who deeply care for the frustratingly complex man can't help but want to punch him, “Why didn't you just send the men to take care of it, tell Sebby, what excuse do you have for me now.” YM came closer to the couch the two were at, Sebastian has a few minor scratches and one gunshot wound that barley missed vital organs, he's shirtless so made it easy to get to work, ym smiled upon seeing his favorite doctor and moved a little closer to ym who sat on a footstool to start cleaning, fishing out what bullet was in there, and sewing up.

Sebastian pain tolerance was through the roof, and ym guess it makes sense since he's always getting hurt to the point it seems on purpose.

Feeling the deep chuckle from the man as the cuts were being cleaned, his deep rich voice carried out in the office always having the effect of drawing everyone around him closer, “My dear little sister, I can't just entrust every one of our men to take care of delicate matters such as this was, if they failed to get rid of them, I do have to get my hands dirty every once in awhile.” Was the same excuse, his perfectionism was almost an art form at this point, very meticulous and ruthless but ym never seen outside of the neat office and bedroom. Everything had it's place from books in their shelves all neatly organized by height and color, to the very pens he had on the dark oak desk off to the side.

Even his own bed, made by himself, was so neat and perfect it was almost unbelievable how careless he acts.

Alice huffs, annoyed even more. She turned away from him, curls twirl with her as the ten year old has just given up with this man, “ym, please, make it hurt as you fix him.” She said so sweetly to ym, always nice and was easily the better patient than her older brother, and even when she's sick it was a rare time Sebastian attitude shifted in ym presence, to a big worry wort. Sebastian snorts, “you don't mean it.”

Alice sticked out her tongue before leaving the room and ym alone with Sebastian who looks at them with that same stupid grin, “should I suspect you to tell me I'm an idiot too, or have you given up on me?” His voice was full of humor.

Plot two (inspired by the song I'm yours by Isabel LaRosa)

YM and Sebastian were thick as thieves as children, normally you couldn't find one without the other being close by, and the many times they played tricks with the staff to steal a sweet to share was countless!

One night years ago in the garden in Sebastian's backyard, watching the stars and Sebastian telling you each one of them and what constellation they belong to, that to this day ym can still point them out, a shooting star appears and Sebastian told ym to make a wish quick, they both made a wish before it left the sky. Sebastian turned his head towards ym with a smiled at ym that seemed to shine brighter than the sun, missing a tooth and all, “so, what cha wished for?” He asked, curious but ym waved him off saying “it won't come true if I told you” which earned a whine and a pout from the boy but he let it go and went back to pointing more stars.

But all good things ends, the next summer ym father brought the family in to inform the fallout with the Allen family and forbid them to ever talk to anyone of that family, the father especially talked to ym knowing that friendship would cause problems if not nipped in the butt now.

That night Sebastian snuck in ym room, he had tears in his eyes but he quickly dried them up once ym entered the room, rush to embrace ym that ym didn't hug back, Sebastian didn't care and once he pulled back he looked at ym with pleading eyes “we can keep it a secret right? I don't care that those stupid adults say, we made a promise to stay together no matter what!” He was looking for something to hold on to by ym gave him nothing but dread, “we were six, and it was just a dumb pinkie promise… you should leave.” Ym heart aches but had to follow their father's rules, Sebastian's world crashed around him, he shook his fluffy mess of white hair, “you're just saying that but I know you don't believe it, you're not even looking at me… please ym, don't do this, please.” The tears started up again as ym’s will was slowing slipping, but my had to their foot down as much as their heart aches, “I do mean it, I…” ym looked Sebastian in the eye, their fist clenched, “I was only friends with you because of our fathers, I never would have been friends with someone like you outside of that.” Ym lied through their teeth, it cut Sebastian as deep, but he got the message and slowly he backed off.

YM want nothing more than to rush and apologize but they froze watching him leave, as he turned to walk to the window, shoulders still shaking holding in the sobs he turned his head to look at ym with that same smile just sadder, “I'm sorry for wasting your time then…” and that night he left, and never seen again as much as ym yearned for it.

By teenhood the both of our muses hated each other, it was a hate that grew by the rumors and lies the fathers made no friendship could be salvaged, and once adulthood came around and both took over their family business, Sebastian losing everything but his baby sister, the two of them were enemies that hated each other more and more they did things to spite the other.

One night, a knock was heard at ym door, and only my was there so they got up to answer the door to the tall looming figure standing out in the, red eyes glaring daggers at ym. Trying to shut the door Sebastian grabbed it, almost broke it as he forced himself in, “I don't care what you send my way, but my sister!? That's to fucking far, what the hell is wrong with you!” He yelled, pointing his finger in ym chest, “this shit with us, not her. Don't do that again or I swear you won't have time to regret it once I'm done with you, got it?”

But thing is, as much as ym thought about doing that they couldn't take the last bit of family from Sebastian as easy as it could be, so they were very confused about why their number one enemy was doing here and threatening them.

This one is a childhood friend turned enemies turned friends then lovers

I rp mostly on discord, it's junespriince, please connect me there!

junespriince

[lady-snow-flower]

MY HEART IS A HAUNTED HOUSE: MASTERPOST

By Laur, Clementine, Art, Laura, Scadaz, Kit, Tama, ft. @lady-snow-flower, @gem-morey, @kingofdemxns, @elliot-morey, @wolf-innsheepsclothing, @bones-weary, @ahearts-a-heavyburden, @princess-ting-ting, and guest starring @labellerose-acheron and @trip-downtheriverstyx

Author's Note: On the surface, this plot does not have the site-wide stakes of previous big plots I have done - and yet, I think this is the most complex and rewarding plot I've ever embarked on! I owe so much to my Hauntley Crew and RP partners who were game for this, who were patient with me, who asked great questions, who pushed me to be a better plotter and project manager (lol), and who filled in my rough plot skeleton(s) with flesh, blood, and heart. I mean it when I say this plot wouldn't look the same without everyone contributing and that's my favorite part - how much it changed and expanded with everyone's input. And isn't that what RP is supposed to be? Thus, here is the roadmap to My Heart Is A Haunted House. It is one of my proudest achievements. I really hope y'all enjoyed it, no matter if you read one para or all the paras. And thank you to my partners again!! Look what we did!! (Rough Estimate: This has to be at least 60k-70k words, which is a novel y'all. One day I'll make an effort to actually add it all up.)

PART ONE: Lady Miracle's Possession Frostbite Hypothermia Jackboot Jump || Gem One-Shot Stitches Undone || Snow Quartz Rigor Mortis

PART TWO: The Unbecoming of the Hauntley Manor Inn Lady Miracle Calls for a Staff Meeting The Deepest Darkest Hour || The Hauntley Staff Rise and Shine || Miracle Hadder Eat, Pray, Haunt || Miracle Bones Spit Spot || Miracle King A Work In Progress || Miracle Wolf The Way Is Shut || Hot Dog Gem vs. The House || Miracle Gem The Unbecoming of Hauntley Manor

PART THREE: The Haunting of Scarlet Rose Manor When The Dust Settles || Gelli Slow Is The Quicksand || Gelli + Fang + Helle The Captain's Lament || Bones, Wolf, Gem, Elli Keep A Light On || Gem+King+Wolf Repeating Old Habits || Wolf King The Past Is Far Behind Us || Belle, Ting-Ting and Wolf Time Loop Paras Roses Are Red || Miracle King Violets Are Blue || Miracle Hadder Dead Man’s Chest || Miracle Wolf Qui n’avance pas, recule || Bones and Yvette One-Shot Interlude: One Last Attempt || King + the Hauntleys The Flesh Calmly Growing Cold || Gem One-Shot Caught In the Undertow || Gelli Castles In The Air || Miracle Ting/ Sing-Song Interlude: Man Overboard || Gelli + Wolf + Ting-Ting How Did It End? || Miracle Gem How It Begins || Snow Quartz

COMPANION ONE-SHOTS To the Lonely Sea and the Sky || Wolf And The Captain The Wheel’s Kick and the Wind’s Song A Wild Call and a Clear Call (That Cannot Be Denied) The Gull’s Way and the Whale’s Way Through the Memory Palace || Snow And Lady Miracle Part One: The Bolter Part Two: Fortnight SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF TIME... (Dream Series) Once Upon a December || Snow Quartz

part one: across my memory part two: things my heart used to know part three: things it yearns to remember part four: things i almost remember part five: dim as an ember

APPENDIX: The Albatross: Soundtrack for My Heart Is A Haunted House

Reborn in Ice - This is the original draft of the Miracle Captain backstory that I wrote for myself as prep and research lol! Most of it I used in my Memory Palace series, but if you wanted the #og, maybe this will interest you lol Ghost Loop Lore Road Map To The Ghost Loop - a behind-the-scenes outline to how that was plotted lol. Again, I just think it's neat.

[enigma-absolute]

when u get this u have to answer with 5 things u like about yourself, publicly. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite mutuals (non-negotiable, positivity is cool!)

Both you and @choasuqeen had sent me this at roughly the same time, so I guess I’m gonna have to answer this with ten things instead, which is fine!

I was able to cut, sew and stitch on a collar on to my Steve shirt in time to wear it out to my local convention with Blue in hand! Here's one of many photos!

2. Still can't believe I'm saying this, but I managed to rope in three friends to help me sing a cover of 'The Rainbow Connection' for a friend's belated birthday present. I genuinely still listen to it because... wow. It genuinely made both my friend and I tear up when we listened to it together over discord.

(And honestly, we could all do with a bigger choir together...)

3. I'm actually kinda proud of how far my art's come since I started keeping sketchbooks. Looking at the shelf on my right from 2019 to now (though I started in 2013), it's nuts how much I've drawn in those years.

4. On the topic of sewing and sketchbooks, I'm actually kinda surprised I still have bookbound my own sketchbooks, and now they sit in wait to be used someday, ready and waiting in their drawers until I choose the next to go ham with.

5. ...oh my god I still can't fully grasp the weight of having written my show's complete pilot episode, complete since last year for Honours. I know I usually talk and think about it in a very light manner, but dude! I have LORE for that story in SEVERAL notebooks, building and retconning and rewriting as I've gone. I did that??? I DID that?????!!!!!

6. If I really like someone international and online (PLATONICALLY), I'm the kind of woman to mail them physical gifts. The fact that I've sent so much mail and have a minor hoarde of envelopes and sealing wax should say something. This only comes at a certain level of closeness though, since, well, of course. You don't go exchanging physically addresses that easily.

7. Something I hadn’t noticed myself until someone had pointed it out to me is that I’m very outwardly silly in front of my friends. And why shouldn’t I be, I love it! I love that I can say or do something that can make my friends laugh; that I have the lack of care to just do a family guy death pose in a video games shop, get a lab coat for a Beaker Bit, or even have the dumbest grin and cackle while everyone else is done at another dad joke I can think of on the spot.

8. It’s hard to believe it now, but me ten years ago on this hellsite didn’t really have two cares about fashion aside from emulating her idol at the time. Now? I’ve developed some tastes and aesthetics, and while I still have a way to keep growing, I’ve found multiple styles and dream outfits and even outfits I own that not only work in comfort, but also style. Velvet green flared pants? Gold jeans? Bright blue overcoat? Vests? YES.

9. Now that I think about it, I’m… actually kind of impressed with my range of voice acting and impressions? Yes it’s very silly and often for the bit, but I’ve had people compliment my Kermit the Frog voice before, and even if I can’t reach the octave Columbo is at, I can still do the vibes.

10. This is off the back of having a psychology appointment recently, but... I'm kinda proud of how far I've come, honestly. From a lost and lonely and scared girl stuck in NZ to someone about to get a teacher's aide job (hopefully, pray for me y'all!) at her old school's sister school for kids on the spectrum - WITH a Bachelor's and Honours in Animation. In Australia. Who would've thought? I sure didn't. But now I'm here.

[imliterallyjustablackgirl]

"About the Blogger" meme

Thank u sm for tag @happylikeasadsong

Star Sign(s): Virgo sun, Cancer rising and Aries Moon - * ratata, in the ghettooo*

Favorite Holidays: Christmas and New Years, I just love little lights and the snow in the trees and to be reminded that makeup is just make up by the Canadian wind, while I get bitch slapped like I owes it money, ahhh, canadian's winter. I loveeee Christmas songs, I get so excited when it'ssss timmmee ( Mariah is it you). I dream for the day were I get to put lil socks like in movies with name and everything. Might even stitch them myself uwu. We don't do it, but maybe one day, family on my own.

Last Meal: As like my last meal if I d i e or - I ate a burned sandwich, I did it to myself. Me and myself are not talking right now, the sandwich was the last straw for today. It had two large meatballs in a subway wanna be bread - could have been great- I'm getting emotional all over again.

Current Favorite Musician: Brown noise 10 hrs- no wait - Rap orchestra - that's like the current thing I'm listening to right now. Mostly Metro's concert rap Orchestra. But Tanarelle, forever my love. Sade, for sure.

Last Music Listened To: * sigh - go look at the last edit I watched** 1975- about you, the snippet of Holt singing. Last Movie Watched: Bottoms - Lmao- THEEE GAYYYZZZ

Last TV Show Watched: Craig of the Creek - Rick and Morty, Bob's burgers, I watch Bob's burgers alot.

Last Book/Fic Finished: Now why did you have to do me like dat.

Last Book/Fic Abandoned: W A W Abandoned? I Do Not Abandoned My Kids. They just live inside my head until one day a smell, a sound,or an idea reminds me that they exist, or I write them on a piece of paper and forget about it OR they live inside my notes pads. Let's not speak about myout-of-wedlockk Skyrock- Wattpat and Fanfiction.net, children, they are not mine, you cannot prove it. Where is the paternity test?

Currently Reading: Y'all posts, like it's bedtime stories. Curry's fanfictions - honestly I read most of y'all updated or not fanfiction, I was on A3O Sydcarmy tags when there was barely two pages, so ouf - thank you to y'all my loves :* truly. I would lie if I said now I have too much windows open I'm confusing the timelines and fanfic. - Seasons of Sydney by shewalksoverme I am waiting for them to update. I am not handling it well, sadly *sighs*

Last Thing Researched for Art/Writing/Hyperfixation: Canada's woods, slightly make me sounds like a serial killer but HOW would you write a werewolf Carmy,huh!? I lived there most of my life, thought it would help me get a better writing experience, yet I've been too busy to continue and now I'm alarmeling aware that we have coyotes. Great ;-;

Favorite Online Fandom Memory: I have alot but I watched the last episode of Stranger Things with my friends last year. S8 of TVD, feeling like a last survivor of some sort, trauma lol - The Howl House - the finality, it healed my inner child to see a queer neurodivergent kid being understood by her mom, kick ass and be happy lol.

Favorite Old Fandom You Wish Would Drag You Back In/Have A Resurgence: Amphibia- it's such a cute and layered cartoon. OMG - I ALMOST FORGOT - CENTAURWORLD. It deserves the praise. It deserves to be acknowledged, the bad guy changed my perception of so many things.

Favorite Thing You Enjoy That Never Had an Active or Big "Fandom" but You Wish It Did: I wish (His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass) when I tell you, that this fantasy world has haunted me, because of how good it was for little girl me, argh! I would watch it all over again, I wish it had a bigger fanbase - if you love Christmas-

Tempting Project You're Trying to Rein In/Don't Have Time For:

Listen - Projects are not the issue, it's the follow-through, I'm gonna try writing mini-stories to keep my mind engaged. I'll manipulate myself into work - Also I keep losing password to things so, yeah- My fic started: Under the moon- I will this week updated it- I want to write more one-shots, more smut for sure- I am interested in exploring differents fronts of any characters. Shit, I might even a Bob's Burgers fanfic. You can't stop me, you're not my mom- that I know of :O I would like @currymanganese to do it @angelica4equity You don't have to, but like... an ant somewhere might die cauz of it so, idk- do u wanna be an ant murdereww? Yeah, that's what i thought